John Joe Nevin going for gold in Rio 2016.

Nevin to go for Rio gold

Olympic silver medalist John Joe Nevin has revealed that the main reason he turned his back on a lucrative professional contract is that he wants to go one better in Rio in 2016.On October 6 the Mullingar native announced on RTE's Saturday Night Show that he was turning pro and joining Amir Khan's new stable of boxers, however last Tuesday he issued a statement saying that he had had decided to retain his amateur status. He also revealed that he was joining the newly established British Lionhearts team that will compete in the 2013 World Series of Boxing (WSB).The highly rated bantamweight says that he's remaining amateur because he wants to join Ireland's Olympic gold medal club."I decided I'd go professional. But I got a lot of time to think before signing the contract and decided to go back and give it one more go for Rio, and try and take home a gold medal."I wanted to go into that membership of Katie Taylor and Michael Carruth of having gold medals. But hopefully I can take it [in Rio] and be in that list."